Tuesday, January 16, 2007

A Response From the Home Office

Just before New Years, I suggested that journalists at the Telegraph were creating something of a stormin a teacup over the £1,000 fine that could be imposed for failing to inform the national identity register of a change of details. I suggested that there may be a danger if a charge was imposed on every single change of details.

The response I recieved from the Home Office (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to publish it in full) is that any change that does not require a reissue of the ID card will be free of charge . In the situation where details on the card change (a change of name is the most likely reason for this), a fee is planned although the size of the fee cannot be determined at this time (I would assume it would be no more than the planned £30 application charge).

I would therefore suggest that the Telegraph is guilty of scaremongering and misleading it's readers.